1.   If diplomacy was bringing a settlement no nearer, military events would do so only very slowly.

2.   The police are no nearer to catching his killer.

3.   At a news conference today police confirmed that they were still no nearer to solving the case.

4.   American stocks of saringas were no nearer than Okinawa, the Pentagon said.

5.   After two years in office, the Caldera administration is no nearer to a comprehensive and coherent economic policy than it was when it took office, Perez said.

6.   From the foot of Battery Park, Ellis Island seems no nearer and no farther than the rest of New Jersey visible across Upper New York Bay.

7.   More than five years after the idea surfaced, a stock exchange -- one the biggest single moves toward a market economy -- is no nearer.

8.   But a year later, peace is no nearer, and the airlift, it seems, has become another casualty of the war.

9.   But Education Minister Sibusiso Bengu, charged with meeting the players and resolving the crisis, appeared no nearer to a solution Thursday after holding talks with university officials.